Gratitude...

Evening lovelies!

How are you all? I never got round to making those scones, sadly, and this time I'm just going to exalt the virtues of ramen, food and dirt, reduced sections and the gym. And really, really amazing moments that spring out at you, from nowhere.

So.... I was a total spanner today, and managed to mix up the days for an interview I have tomorrow... I went to help out at work this morning and left at two to go and grab a quick sushi lunch before I ran back to uni for my interview, which is tomorrow! Durrr. Anyway, depsite my major thickness, I did score some ramen for lunch, which is, and I'm almost ashamed to say it, the Korean version of supernoodles. But SO much better. It is, I reckon, up there on my top ten comfort foods list. So this is, yes, a supernoodle, the armpit of most food counters, but this hole-in-the-wall sushi place I go to jazzes it up with water chestnuts and spring onions, a poached egg and crab sticks. I know. I know. But still! Delicious. You've just got to try it to believe me - and it makes you feel good!! The only thing that beats the ramen feeling is a warm salty pretzel with mustard. End of.

What are your favourite comfort foods?

I also received my first organic veg bag from the shared planet group on campus! It was a lovely surprise to get so many dirt covered, earthy, wholesome looking fruits and vegetables! I have apples, oranges, and pears, leeks, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, fresh ginger (awesome!!), potential turnips (need washing to define true nature) and other lovely things! I've shared a few potatoes and carrots with a friend of mine who's slow cooking us brisket of beef for tomorrow's dinner! Very exciting.

A quick psalm to the joys of the reduced sections! ...Avocadoes, raspberries and PAIN AU CHOCOLAT! All for nice student-prices! I do love a bargain and tomorrow on top of the tonnes of fruit I must consume already I shall be wolfing down my pain au chocolat in a very non-studenty manner. Although that being said, in a photo recently taken by my work colleagues in the coffee shop's birthday party, I'm rocking a studenty look...

Now, the philosophical gratitude part.

Today, sat on the bus coming home after my ramen, I struck up a conversation with an older lady, kind and sweet. All I said was something along the lines of sitting beside someone with lots of bags. I think she wanted someone to talk to, because for the next fifteen minutes of my life I experienced one of the most honest, genuinely interested conversations of my life. What did we talk about? The weather. My city. University. The snow. An interview. She smiled at me with such open interest and she seemed to enjoy talking to a stranger so much that I wonder if maybe she needed someone to take interest in her for a church. I waved at her as I got off the bus. She wished me good luck. I don't know her name, and I doubt I ever will. But that woman made me weep and grin with gratitude for the indomitable, ever surprising human spirit. She was so genuinely interested in my life - something utterly insignificant in hers. She created the brightest moment of my day. Something about the conversation made me sit up and be thankful for all the little pleasures and surprises in everyday life. Ramen. Conversation. The first sip of tea in the morning. The untold kindness of strangers. Sunshine, even if brief. Smiles. The knowledge that comes from being serene and secure.

I'm grateful for all of this and so much more.

Thank you,
Eloise xxx

365 bright mornings and starlit nights.

Hello there readers!

Firstly, huge apologies are due for being truly awful and busy and not posting for ages, Christmas came at me with a vengeance and I was duly swamped with all its treats and family gatherings and vast quantities of snow, as befits the season! I hope you've all had really wonderful, comforting holidays and are enjoying the beginning of a very blessed 2010!

I've cooked so much and been treated to such delicious food that a lot of what I've made escapes me, but I am going to share with you a recent (and slightly scary) passion for avocados! In a fit of comfort food desperation, I raided my fridge, stopped by Peckham's and came up with a goats cheese, avocado and caramelised red onion pizza, with dough made from scratch. I was pretty pleased with this one, I must say, as it looks so damn pretty when it comes out of the oven, golden and bubbling! I had a real problem trying to find dough recipes that contained relatively normal ingredients that I could cut down to make a portion for just one person, so I'd maybe just make the full thing next time (I hate cooking for one) and then freeze the extra portions so that you have dough on hand for whenever you fancy some proper, homemade pizzas. I'll apologise now to any steadfast Italian mamas out there - I have no Italian blood and I'm therefore probably doing this all wrong, if you have any improvements, let me know, otherwise we'll just use the one I've got here for you.

It'll serve two (pinched courtesy of Delia Smith with a few alterations.)

175g plain flour
tsp salt
tsp dried yeast
tsp sugar
tbsp olive oil
120ml warm water

Sieve all of your dry ingredients into a bowl and make a well in the middle with your fingers. Into the well pour the olive oil and your warm water and mix this concoction into a dough.Many advise starting with a wooden spoon and then your hands and this seems to be the success story of the moment. Once the dough becomes elastic and stretchy, roll it into a ball and place it back into the bowl, covering it with a dry, clean tea towel, leaving it at room temperature until it doubles in size, which is roughly an hour. The dough can then be rolled out on a floured surface and smothered with whichever toppings take your fancy! Obviously for me my cravings dicated crumbled goats cheese (roughly 100g), sliced ripe avocados (1) and overcooked red onions (1). As simple as could possibly be, you over cook your onions and then spread them over your rolled out dough, top that with the avocado slices and then crumble your goats cheese over the top, brushing the top of the pizza with olive oil so that it becomes bubbly and golden - a little bit like a champagne pizza, if you fancy. As I made only one pizza I only used one of everything else, so feel free to double the ingredients as you please.

Today I also made broccoli and almond soup for lunch - and it's pretty good, if I do say so myself. When at work, I'm usually treated to the vegan version of this, which is just brocolli and almonds, essentially, but the almonds lend the broccoli soup a nutty, grainy sweetness after they're toasted and it's healthy(ish - after the addition of the wine and the cream...). It makes a lovely starter or a lovely lunch, whichever one you fancy.

You need...

2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
2 heads of broccoli
225g potatoes
30g butter
700ml vegetable stock
75ml white wine
150ml single cream
75g toasted almonds (flaked, but you'll blitz them later)

First, toast your almonds in a pan, keeping a close eye on them. They need to be golden brown at the edges, but left too long they can quickly char themselves, leaving you an angry bunny. Pop them in a bowl and then melt your butter in the pan, adding your chopped onion and garlic, frying until soft but not brown. You can roughly chop all the ingredients for this soup by the way, apart from the potatoes which need chopping into small chunks so that they cook quickly. After you've softened your onions add the white wine and stock along with the potatoes and then bring to the boil before simmering for 5 minutes. Add your chopped broccoli and simmer for another 6-8 minutes, or until soft. Finally, add your toasted almonds and the cream, and then blitz with a handheld blender or similar until smooth, then season to taste! It's a gorgeous soup, a pretty pale green colour which would go superbly with some homemade croutons, not that I've been so daring as to try that myself.

I'm also about to embark on making some Indian Scones, so I may post later on today, with the addition of some photographs I've taken over the holiday season to share with you!

Thank you for bearing with me through this unnatural silence, haha!

Lots of love and New Year wishes!
Eloise
xxx